The Toronto Maple Leafs did not show up for game five in Toronto on Wednesday night. They were completely outworked by the Florida Panthers and ultimately lost the game 6-1. There were so many negatives to the Leafs game, that it's almost impossible to find a positive. Things got so bad that fans began to boo their own team and throw jerseys onto the ice. The Leafs are now trailing the best-of-seven series 3-2 after winning the first two games.
As embarrassing as Wednesday night was, the Leafs have been lacking any killer instinct since game three. The Leafs had a 3-1 lead in Game 3 and failed to win that game. It has been all downhill from there. Aside from Nylander, the Leafs core is not playing to expectations. A team expects its top players to lead by example. Mitch Marner has one goal this series, and Auston Matthews has none. One of the reasons for this is that both seem to always look for the perfect shot instead of just shooting the puck to the net.
Good things happen when you shoot the puck towards the net. The puck could get redirected in or create a rebound for a teammate to capitalize on. Sometimes garbage goals win hockey games. The shots don't need to be perfect. I can't tell you how many times the Panthers have scored in this series because the puck was redirected into the net off a player's body or stick, but the puck went in because they shot the puck toward the net.
Having control of the puck was also an issue for the Leafs in game five. The Panthers were winning most of the puck battles. They seemed faster and more determined than the Leafs. Now, after losing the pivotal game five, the Leafs are facing elimination in game six on Friday. If they fail to show up like they did in game five, then the Leafs will be golfing on Saturday. The Leafs will need to be aggressive on the puck, win puck battles, win faceoffs, control the tempo, and shoot everything at the Florida net.
Another deciding factor going into game six will be the health of Anthony Stolarz. He returned to practice before game five but was unable to play. Hopefully, he will be healthy enough to get the start in game six and help the Leafs push this series to game seven, where it will be do or die for both teams.